In recent remarks at a conference in Europe, longtime public figure Hillary Clinton issued a warning on former President Donald Trump as he seeks the presidency once again. As most of his challenges within the party have wilted, Trump remains the front-runner for this year’s presidential nomination from the Republican Party.
Clinton spoke specifically on recent threats from Trump to encourage a Russian military incursion against members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the event they fell short of ostensible spending obligations, the nature of which Trump misrepresents. NATO runs on an agreement for mutual defense that is spurred if a member is attacked, creating deterrence that covers member countries large and small across continents. Trump made the first version of those remarks at a campaign rally in South Carolina, later restating basically the same perspective.
“We have a long struggle ahead of us, and the obvious point to make about Donald Trump is take him literally and seriously,” Clinton said, as highlighted earlier by NBC News, adding: “People did not take him literally and seriously in 2016. Now he is telling us what he intends to do, and people who try to wish it away, brush it away, are living in an alternative reality.” Clinton also predicted that Trump would try essentially furthering his clear antagonism towards NATO by working against U.S. funding if he regains the presidency.
The condemnation for Trump’s idea of effectively backing Russia in a potential stand-off with NATO has been extensive and global. Some on the Right tried running with the idea of taking Trump less than seriously, as though suggesting support for Russia’s military ambitions merely constituted a distinction in speechwriting approaches. Trump’s last significant primary challenger, Nikki Haley, has been publicly critical of Trump’s stance, but polling suggests that she won’t get anywhere near Republicans’ nomination. Trump is generally expected to face incumbent President Joe Biden again in this fall’s elections.
